Communications networks are used by businesses, governments and universities for many different purposes, including communications and data processing. Such networks often employ computer-based network management systems to access and obtain information from and about various elements of the network, such as its equipment and facilities. Network operators use this information to perform the requisite tasks needed to keep the network operating properly.
Network information obtained by conventional network management systems is typically presented to a network operator on a video display screen in the form of a map of icons representing the different elements of a network. The operator can access information pertaining to a particular network element by clicking on the appropriate icon. When the operational state of a monitored network element comes into question, the network element generates an alarm represented by the corresponding icon which alerts the operator to the problem so that it can be cleared.
Such conventional alarms suffer from a significant drawback. Specifically, they may not be continuously visible to network operator while other network management tasks are in progress because the map-like representations of network elements are often larger than the viewable area of the video display screen. Consequently, certain regions of the map will be outside the viewing area of the video display screen at any given time. Thus, when a network operator wants to view a region of the map outside the immediate viewing area of the video display screen, the operator must move the map around to view that region. If an alarmed icon is generated in a region of the map outside the immediate viewing area of the video display screen, it will not be noticed by the user. This in turn, can unnecessarily delay clearing a network problem.